Eriksson checks out of England and leaves little discernible legacy

"Penalties," said Sven-Goran Eriksson. It was the closing word of his final press conference as England manager and he might as well have been dictating the inscription for his headstone. The spot-kicks were the death of him in the World Cup quarter-final with Portugal, just as they had been against the same opponents in the last eight of Euro 2004. He will go down as a person who changed very little for rather a lot of money.

England have contested half-a-dozen shoot-outs in major tournaments, coming out on top only against Spain 10 years ago. Eriksson has not proved to be so different from all the other people who have followed Sir Alf Ramsey. He had to galvanise the national team but in Gelsenkirchen there was no detectable influence.

With the exception of the excellent Owen Hargeaves' conversion, the penalties were abject. Eriksson is baffled as to why 12-yard syndrome, despite all the training-ground practice, continues to cripple the team.

Freeing players of inhibitions is the essence of his job and the prevalence of that psychological weakness demonstrates Eriksson's failure. Steven Gerrard, who tucked away a penalty in this year's FA Cup final, struck as ghastly an effort as anyone else on Saturday.

In a way, though, that piece of melodrama and the red card for Wayne Rooney were so riveting that Eriksson himself almost slipped out of view. No one, though, should stare with such an appalled gaze at the defeat by Portugal as to lose sight of England's overall inadequacy at the World Cup. It has been miserable. The side never looked as if they belonged in the semi-finals. England had far more flair in Portugal two years ago. The team started off badly against Paraguay at the World Cup and Eriksson could not make any decisive improvement.

While England opened the second half strongly against Portugal the spell lasted only 17 minutes before Rooney's red card. For all we know, Luiz Felipe Scolari might have succeeded in chloroforming the game once again. He has beaten England three times but his own side are intolerably dull, marked by an absence of strikers and a fixation with playing sideways.

Eriksson's team had the smoothest possible path laid out at the World Cup yet still fell flat on their face. The manager, however, ought to have had the advantage over the rest of us when it came to gauging whether Rooney could restrain his roaming style and show the discipline of a solo striker. The 20-year-old was incapable of it.

The dismissal came when he had his back to Ricardo Carvalho and reacted wildly to a tug. Rooney loves to face defenders and make straight for them with the ball at his feet. In Gelsenkirchen he did not enjoy such a role and was infuriated by the ease with which Portugal controlled him. Eriksson over-estimated his maturity. The manager begged the country not to be hard on the Manchester United forward lest his career is soured and England suffer in consequence. Many will bear that in mind and stick to blaming Eriksson first and foremost.

There has been a steady decline for years. All the good that Eriksson did, including the early pinnacle of the 5-1 win over Germany, came at the start. In 2002 well-wishers could contend that conditions in Shizuoka impaired England every bit as much as the dismissal of Ronaldinho did Scolari's Brazil. There were no excuses for Euro 2004 and this World Cup has been worse.

Eriksson's track record was arguably superior to anyone ever appointed England manager before him. Knowing that, the FA was willing to go extremes to secure him. The £2.5m a year that he may have been earning at the very start in 2001 is about 10 times more than the current salary of Raymond Domenech, coach to the World Cup semi-finalists France.

That was acceptable in a wealthy football nation such as England but the highly paid Eriksson was to be as overtaken by confusion as his predecessor Kevin Keegan. Whatever Jermain Defoe's flaws, it is a fact that the Swede had invested time in him, allowing the striker 16 caps. The manager, however, all but disowned the Spurs player yesterday.

"Where are the other big strikers in England?" he asked, bemoaning his lack of options. Eriksson would not accept that a Defoe goal in the World Cup qualifiers was relevant: "We weren't playing Poland this year."

Eriksson claimed that he was justified in including the 17-year-old Theo Walcott because the experience of being at a World Cup will benefit him. That is an empty argument. Other nations bring youngsters to the tournament without naming them in the squad itself. Walcott was not deemed good enough to play for a single minute.

Defoe, whatever his defects, would have been far more ready to participate. There was an absence of rigour in Eriksson's logic and therefore in his team.

The weaknesses were laid bare in the shoot-out. Scolari does seem to have created a steeliness. Just as he had at Euro 2004, the goalkeeper Ricardo intimidated England with his belligerent confidence and Simao, assigned the first penalty, did not let his concentration flag even while being made to wait an age before the broadcasters were ready.

The next England manager Steve McClaren must get a fair chance but he cannot settle for being a budget version of Eriksson. David Beckham, presumably anticipating a shake-up, relinquished the captaincy yesterday and so avoided the danger of finding it taken from him peremptorily.

The life of the national team cannot be permitted to proceed exactly as before. Eriksson had faith in a low-key manner but his England flatlined at the great tournaments.